By
Hagop Alajajian
Submitted On February 22, 2016
There are various things you can do to slow the aging process
down, and in some cases, even reverse it. As much as the body changes,
your diet, activity level, and intellectual pursuits can have a
substantial effect on how "old" you get.
Limited Numbers
Use it or lose it is the general rule when it comes to the human body, and the brain is no exception. At a certain point, we can no longer produce new neurons (brain cells), and if we don't consistently use the ones we have, they will essentially atrophy. We lose the cells we do not use. As we get older, and can no longer produce new neurons, we create more connections between existing ones. We can also create new connections between existing neurons, or reinforce existing connections.
It's like looking at a map of new hiking trails. There's a web of them, with some connecting and others not, spread out all over the mountains. As the years go by, hikers tend to use certain trails more than others, so these become more defined, with the hikers sometimes making smaller trails connecting the large ones. The original trails used less often (or not at all) slowly get overtaken by the trees and bushes until they are no longer usable.
Efficiency Expert
Your brain is precisely that: an efficiency expert. Having a multitude of unused neurons serves no purpose. Everything from the connections you build to the disappearance of unused neurons is your brain's way of becoming more efficient. To continue the hiking trail analogy, why start a new trail when another already exists? This is also why the idiom, "Can't teach an old dog new tricks" exists... there's a reason why, stereotypically, people become more set in their ways, habits, and routines as they get older, especially in terms of ways of thinking.
Change occurs when we are introduced to something new, and then a process occurs by which we continue as we have, or we learn something new.
What You Can Do
How do we protect our brains from the effects of aging? We learn. The more we learn, the more gracefully our brain will age. This is especially true for memory. Read, play chess, learn to play an instrument or speak a new language, teach your kids and grandkids, take a different route home one day, and try new things. Your brain will thank you.
Limited Numbers
Use it or lose it is the general rule when it comes to the human body, and the brain is no exception. At a certain point, we can no longer produce new neurons (brain cells), and if we don't consistently use the ones we have, they will essentially atrophy. We lose the cells we do not use. As we get older, and can no longer produce new neurons, we create more connections between existing ones. We can also create new connections between existing neurons, or reinforce existing connections.
It's like looking at a map of new hiking trails. There's a web of them, with some connecting and others not, spread out all over the mountains. As the years go by, hikers tend to use certain trails more than others, so these become more defined, with the hikers sometimes making smaller trails connecting the large ones. The original trails used less often (or not at all) slowly get overtaken by the trees and bushes until they are no longer usable.
Efficiency Expert
Your brain is precisely that: an efficiency expert. Having a multitude of unused neurons serves no purpose. Everything from the connections you build to the disappearance of unused neurons is your brain's way of becoming more efficient. To continue the hiking trail analogy, why start a new trail when another already exists? This is also why the idiom, "Can't teach an old dog new tricks" exists... there's a reason why, stereotypically, people become more set in their ways, habits, and routines as they get older, especially in terms of ways of thinking.
Change occurs when we are introduced to something new, and then a process occurs by which we continue as we have, or we learn something new.
What You Can Do
How do we protect our brains from the effects of aging? We learn. The more we learn, the more gracefully our brain will age. This is especially true for memory. Read, play chess, learn to play an instrument or speak a new language, teach your kids and grandkids, take a different route home one day, and try new things. Your brain will thank you.
Aging is Inevitable, but Aging Poorly is Not
Even when we age gracefully, we need a hand every now and then. So, if you need a little extra support, Glendale Physical Therapy and Rehab Centers is here to help in any way we can: http://www.glendalept.com/.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Hagop_Alajajian/2195450
Even when we age gracefully, we need a hand every now and then. So, if you need a little extra support, Glendale Physical Therapy and Rehab Centers is here to help in any way we can: http://www.glendalept.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment